1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a watering system which may be used with living plants in pots and trees (e.g. Christmas trees) in tree stands to provide a simplified means for delivering water thereto.
2. Background Art
Drip watering systems, watering cans and a hose are well-known means by which plants and trees may be watered, especially potted plants and evergreen trees in tree stands. These techniques prove to be inadequate in certain situations. For example, many potted plants are kept indoors so that using a hose is impractical. There is no interior water connector for a hose and dragging the hose from out of doors into a house or other buildings is usually not an acceptable solution. In addition to this expected difficulty, evergreen trees in stands present another deterrent because the stands have relatively shallow wells or dishes for the water. Water delivered by a hose into such a well or dish is likely to cause splashing and/or overflow. Moreover, the shape of an evergreen tree is such that it is considerably more bushy and longer limbed at the bottom making it awkward to replenish the water in the tree stand. Failure to provide water to the evergreen tree in the stand has all too often caused tragic results.
The use of a watering can poses another set of problems. Some plants are extremely bushy about the base making it difficult to gain access to the pot for watering. When plants are grouped together, the caretaker must usually reach across adjacent plants to water the more distant ones. Even if the caretaker of the plants or tree uses a watering can, there are frequently accidents in which the water spills on the floor or the carpet because the caretaker is trying to aim the water out of the watering can and into the pot or tree stand. This problem is particularly acute with live Christmas trees which are frequently surrounded by gifts. The outcome in this situation may well be watered gifts in addition to a wet floor.
Drip watering systems have been developed for indoor plants which are reasonably effective, but require an interconnection of tubing and hosing or a separate system for each plant. These systems are not altogether acceptable in every situation and have inherent problems. A successful drip watering system for evergreen trees in stands is not presently known.
None of the present watering systems provide a simple effective means of distributing water from an external source into the soil of a plant pot or reservoir of a tree stand.